Mary Brodd > Recent Status Updates

Scary! Our brains are wired for conversation, and social media doesn't fill that need - scientists have the brain scans to prove it.

Depressing as hell, but very detailed on the neurological processes behind compulsive overeating, and the actual processes of creating hyperpalatable food ("boluses" in the mouth, doesn't that sound good?)

Started reading this the week that England/Wales voted to leave EU, a coincidence that is sort of freaky. Very atmospheric, enjoying it a lot so far. Dying to know how it ends...

Author is making a good case for MVB as highly under-rated. A failure but an interesting one. Inventor of modern party system.

Wondering whether anyone will mind if I skip work today to finish this book...quite the page-turner!

Really interesting so far. Road construction - lots more complicated than you might think.

1. I did not know that there were places in the world, referred to as "foci," where plague germs naturally exist.

2. this author likes to dwell at length on the physical symptoms experienced by plague sufferers - let's just say that if I were typesetting this book, I'd already have created a shortcut for the phrase "bloody anal discharge."

This is reading like a thriller at this point - what crazy stuff will her husband do, and will she be able to stop him in time?

Absolutely gripping. I am struck again and again as I read biographies from this era how completely alien the 18th century is to us.

Into the "Southern Highlands" section - north England/southern Scotland area of origin - tenant farmers had no reason to use good construction methods, or improve the soil, as the land did not belong to them and they could be moved on short notice. Trend exists to this day in Appalachians - log cabins, mobile homes (!) more popular there than in any other part of the country.

Interesting factoid - the areas in England that produced the Quakers correspond almost exactly to the areas where the Norse invaders settled. Rights of women in society dramatically different.

Done with the Cavaliers - on to the Quakers.

Into the Cavaliers in Virginia. What a difference!

Not as much of a narrative as I think I was expecting - more short chunks of statistical analysis, but still interesting (in short bits - I can tell it's going to take me a while to get through it).

Nearing the end (4 pages until the notes start), and more depressed than ever about the state of nutritional info that the public has been fed.